Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration at the Shrine

Currently, our Adoration chapel is open 24 hours. It is located in Deslatte Hall, a separated building on the right side of the main entrance of the Church.
However, exposition of the Blessed Sacrament occurs every Thursday beginning after the 8:30 am Mass, culminating on Friday at 9:00 pm.
If you would like to commit to one hour before the Blessed Sacrament,
please contact Flor Barsallo: florjlp17@comcast.net



The Presence of Christ by the power of His Word and the Holy Spirit

1373 "Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the Right Hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us," is present in many ways to His Church: in His Word, in His Church's prayer, "where two or three are gathered in My Name," in the poor, the sick, and the imprisoned, in the Sacraments of which He is the Author, in the Sacrifice of the Mass, and in the person of the minister. But "He is present . . . most especially in the Eucharistic species."

1374 The mode of Christ's Presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all the Sacraments as "the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the Sacraments tend." In the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist "the Body and Blood, together with the Soul and Divinity, of Our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained." "This Presence is called 'real' - by which is not intended to exclude the other types of presence as if they could not be 'real' too, but because it is presence in the fullest sense: that is to say, it is a substantial Presence by which Christ, God and man, makes Himself wholly and entirely present."

For almost two millennia, Catholics have believed in the Real Presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament - the Holy Eucharist. We believe that at the moment of the Consecration of the Holy Mass, the bread and wine on the altar cease to exist - at this glorious moment in the Mass, the bread and the wine become the Most Precious Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The consecrated Host under the appearance of bread, and the Precious Blood under the appearance of wine, are given the worship and adoration that is reserved to God alone. The Real Presence of the Second Divine Person of the Most Holy Trinity exists under the appearance of the consecrated bread and wine.

Adoration is the first attitude of man acknowledging that he is a creature before his Creator. It exalts the greatness of the Lord who made us and the Almighty Power of the Savior who sets us free from evil. Adoration is homage of the Spirit to the "King of Glory," respectful silence in the Presence of the "ever greater" God. Adoration of the thrice-holy and sovereign God of love blends with humility and gives assurance to our supplications.

 

The importance of Eucharistic Adoration is shown in the fact that the Church has a ritual that regulates it: the Rite of Eucharistic Exposition and Benediction. This is an extension of the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament which occurs in every Mass: "Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb." Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament flows from the Sacrifice of the Mass and serves to deepen our hunger for Communion with Christ and the rest of the Church. The Rite concludes with the ordained minister blessing the faithful with the Blessed Sacrament. [The blessing is called Benediction.]

 

"As Saint Augustine put it: "nemo autem illam carnem manducat, nisi prius adoraverit; peccemus non adorando – no one eats that Flesh without first adoring it; we should sin were we not to adore it." In the Eucharist, the Son of God comes to meet us and desires to become one with us; Eucharistic Adoration is simply the natural consequence of the Eucharistic celebration, which is itself the Church's supreme act of adoration. Receiving the Eucharist means adoring Him whom we receive. Only in this way do we become one with Him, and are given, as it were, a foretaste of the beauty of the heavenly liturgy. The act of adoration outside Mass prolongs and intensifies all that takes place during the liturgical celebration itself. Indeed, "only in adoration can a profound and genuine reception mature. And it is precisely this personal encounter with the Lord that then strengthens the social mission contained in the Eucharist, which seeks to break down not only the walls that separate the Lord and ourselves, but also and especially the walls that separate us from one another."

- Pope Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis

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Adoration is open to anyone. Please maintain a disposition of silence and reverence in the ADORATION chapel. Visitors should check in with the Parish Office to get the code for the chapel door.

 For more information about Eucharistic Adoration or to sign up for an hour, contact the Parish Office.